Gov carves out line-item vetoes

Gov. Mark Parkinson restored family planning funds to Planned Parenthood, eliminated a proposed budget cut to public broadcasting and rejected a state snub of clean air regulations.

In approving a budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1, Parkinson carved out his objections in 11 line-item vetoes. As with much that happens in the Statehouse, his actions drew praise and disdain.

"I wouldn't use the word disappointed," said Rep. Virgil Peck, R-Tyro. "I would use the word disgusted."

In the wee hours of the budget debate earlier this month, Peck succeeded in pulling more than $900,000 from public broadcasting and giving it to the Kansas Commission on Veterans Affairs.

Parkinson said reallocation would have amounted to a 50 percent cut in operating grants for public broadcasting stations in Kansas. Even without those additional funds, the budget for veterans services will increase 30 percent over current levels.

"This type of drastic reduction would be particularly damaging to stations in rural Kansas, likely silencing an important voice for our rural communities," Parkinson said.

Eugene Williams, chief executive officer and general manager of KTWU-TV in Topeka, said state funds make up about 10 percent of the budget for the station, which reaches viewers in eastern Kansas from the Oklahoma to Nebraska borders. Both state funding and private donations also have declined in the sour economy. The Peck amendment would have cost the station about $140,000.

In other amendments:Parkinson put the brakes on a budget-drafting mistake that threatened to cost the Kansas Board of Regents $40 million next year. If left untouched, the mistake would have dropped state funding levels below the requirement to receive federal recovery dollars. The intent of lawmakers had been to restore $3.6 million in funding to the regents.

"He could send that system into a tailspin if they had to deal with that kind of a decrease at this point in the game," said Sen. Laura Kelly, D-Topeka.Planned Parenthood clinics in Hays and Wichita can continue to receive federal dollars for family planning. Anti-abortion lawmakers had sought to keep those dollars out of the hands of Planned Parenthood, which provides abortions, although none of the federal funds could be used for abortions.

"The family planning services provided by these facilities help lower the likelihood of unplanned pregnancy and thus reduce abortions," Parkinson said. "Eliminating funding for programs intended to reduce the number of unplanned pregnancies does nothing to help reduce abortions in Kansas."

Kansans for Life executive director Mary Kay Culp said Parkinson was "out of step with the public."

"It's a sad day in Kansas when the governor ensures a politically motivated group like Planned Parenthood gets our taxpayer dollars while state health clinics are left wanting," she said.Sen. Tim Huelskamp, R-Fowler, said he was disappointed Parkinson vetoed an amendment that would have prohibited the Kansas Department of Health and Environment from spending any money on planning or implementing rules and regulations pursuant to the clean air act and involving greenhouse gases. The governor, he said, was bending to the "left-wing political interests" of people pushing "the alarmist global-warming agenda."

While an official with the Kansas Chamber of Commerce also criticized Parkinson's veto, both Westar Energy and Sunflower Electric had expressed concerns that removing the state from the process could create more difficulties in working with the Environmental Protection Agency. Sunflower is seeking a permit for a new coal-fired power plant in Finney County.Parkinson rejected a 5 percent pay cut for state officers, saying those reductions would have fallen hard on the judicial branch, which has experienced furloughs. He said he and Lt. Gov. Troy Findley would voluntarily continue a 5 percent reduction in their pay. Lawmakers, he said, could do the same.

Barbara Hollingsworth can be reached at (785) 233-7470 or barbara.hollingsworth@cjonline.com and tweets at twitter.com/CapJ_Barb.

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